Blue Devils return to practice field
Published 11:00 am Wednesday, July 8, 2020
- Blue Devils condition during a 2019 spring practice. They are now allowed intra-squad scrimmages in the latest Georgia High School Association coronavirus mandates.
TIFTON — For the last month, Georgia high schools have been allowed to get out on the practice field.
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They started conditioning June 8, 12 weeks after COVID-19 shut down schools, activities and athletics. Tift head coach Ashley Anders is optimistic for the upcoming weeks. As of now, the regular season is scheduled to begin Aug. 21.
Teams were off the field last week because of “dead week,” an annual respite for Georgia High School Association schools. They started back up Monday, with a few slight changes.
“They’re going to let us start doing some intra-squad scrimmages,” said Anders.
The GHSA posts its coronavirus guidelines on its website. On July 1, the league’s update was that players of the same school could participate in 7-on-7s, but that they could not face an outside team. No helmets or protective padding are allowed. Sport-specific equipment, such as footballs, had already been permitted.
When the GHSA started the conditioning sessions, teams were limited to 20 individuals in a group. On June 22, they were permitted to have as many as 50.
Anders said the Blue Devils are now working out that many at a time, but didn’t initially do so.
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“We stayed with our groups of 20 til last Wednesday and Thursday (June 24-25), only two days of combining,” he said. “We combined our two defensive groups and our two offensive groups into one.”
The process has worked so far. Naturally, Anders would like to have everyone together, but knows that will also be a process.
“We’re going to follow the guidelines that they’re suggesting,” he said. Anders said he has told the players about the rules and why they have to adhere to them. “We gotta do what we have to do to be able to play this season,” he said. “If that means staying in groups for a little while longer and still have the season, sure, we’re going to do that.”
All GHSA schools are operating under these guidelines, though some are at different stages. Many metro Atlanta school systems waited at least a week to begin conditioning to make sure all could operate under the rules.
Some had to end conditioning before the dead week. Practices were shut down at Long County and Glynn Academy, among others, because of positive coronavirus tests. At least 11 schools have reported positive tests from a student and/or a coach. Teams in all sports are now asked to report COVID cases to the GHSA.
One private school, Gainesville-based Riverside Military Academy, didn’t start conditioning at all. Riverside, whose student body is almost totally boarding students, has cancelled fall sports.
Anders has been reading the reports from other schools. Tift has not had any positive tests, he said.
“Our kids have done a really good job of main
taining the social distancing,” he said. “We’ve had zero cases on the football team at any level, from ninth grade up.” Anders was knocking on wood they maintained that with Independence Day weekend.
With teams now allowed to get a little closer via intra-squad scrimmages, Anders is hopeful for the future. “I was very happy that Georgia High School (Association) kinda took a step forward and are letting us do that.”
“I don’t think if they didn’t think we were going to have a season, or something like that, we wouldn’t have taken that step forward,” he said.
Anders thinks the GHSA will especially be paying attending to coronavirus numbers this week, as teams come back from dead week and from holiday vacations. If numbers are good, he thinks they could progress to donning equipment or practice in bigger groups.